Author: Alice Davidson

Bronson Movie Review (Released 2008)

IMDB: 7.1

Starring: Tom Hardy, Kelly Adams

Rated: R (V, L, GN, S)

Genre: Action / Biography / Crime

Running Time: 1hr 32min

What is now considered this generations Clockwork Orange? What movie that I know positive is to be Tom Hardy’s biggest and greatest role? When you hear Tom Hardy, you think Bane from the Dark Knight Raises. Bane can read and weep because its Tom’s Hardy’s role as Charles Bronson in the movie Bronson. Its not just Tom Hardy’s stellar acting, he may as well have become Charles Bronson himself, that makes this movie one to remember. The infamous director Nicolas Winding Refn gives this movie its own character. People say that Bronson is the movie that helped inspire his most famous film Drive.

This movie has made it on my favorites list of independent films. Based on a true story, this is how it goes: Bronson gets sent to prison for seven years for a armed robbery. His mother calls from the courtroom “You’ll be out in three.” He serves 34 years (as of 2009), 30 of which are spent in solitary confinement, and is still serving his life sentence to this day. How does he manage this? He has the habit of taking hostages in the prison, stripping naked and covering himself with grease just so he can brawl with prison guards and he enjoys doing it.

Plot wise, there is no plot. This movie is the storytelling of a real man who really did these things.

As I watched the movie I can’t help but be absorbed in Charles Bronson character and personality. The audience gains sympathetic connection with this mad man as they watch him being copped up in a tiny cell, being rejected by the woman he loves, and having his art be ignored. We start to understand why he fights. Its like if you ever wanted to punch someone in the face for cutting in line but don’t? Well Bronson would pummel said person before drawing a smiley face on their forehead and holding out peace signs at police. Then he would fight the cops as they were trying to force in into handcuffs or sedate him. This movie unintentionally makes you think about the function of our prison systems and of their methods of dealing with prisoners. After-all, Charles Bronson is facing a life sentence but has never killed anyone. Bronson in this film actually says that he enjoyed prison and compares it to a hotel room that helps him “hone” his skills as a fighter. What? Prisons actually encouraging violent behavior? Why I’d Never!

Please don’t let your 12 year old son see this movie. Its rated R and when I say rated R I actually mean you get to see Tom Hardy’s manly uncensored package about every 10 minutes. As an artist this movies nudity pleases me because for once in hollywood’s life, nudity didn’t equal sexual targeting to the audience. It shows man is his barest form (literally) and delivers the perfect idea of what a human really is: flawed with strong emotion and surrounded by a system that holds them back. This is a movie that everyone should see.

Jurassic World Movie Review (Released 2015)

Jurassic World become a blockbuster hit, out ranking Avengers by 30 million dollars in its box office debut. But what made this movie such a hit? Probably the loyal fans who remember the 1993 Jurassic Park movie and were eager to re-live the adventure of discovering the beauty and horrors the Jurassic franchise has to offer. Plus what child doesn’t like to watch realistic dinosaurs in action?

The movie was a pleasure to watch, don’t get me wrong, but I found the plot a little too premature, as if it was made in 1993 instead of 2015. The plot retains the same flow previous films with: human makes dinosaur park, most vicious dinosaur escapes cage, and humans run for survival. Also the characters in the movie are not as emotionally connected with the audience as in Jurassic Park. The older Michell child was far too aloof about the environment around him. It was his first visit to Jurassic World yet the writers felt to need to make him “too cool” for such activities. Dinosaurs are cool no matter what your age and this is the age where stereotypes are losing their hold in the film industry. Finally, the end of Indominus Rex fell short of climatic. Mosasaurus should have been cut from the ending and the T- Rex should have kill Indominus and be Jurassic hero once again as done in Jurassic Park. The ending they chose seemed too convenient and didn’t respect the power of the dinosaurs shown in previous films. I did, however, love the relationship between Owen and Claire and the contrast between the polished life of human nature vs the ruggedness of wild nature. The movie does good to repeat the mistakes of the past and underestimate what the forces of nature can do along with what havoc can be born when man tries to take control over nature.

Despite the shaky plot and characters the movie itself depicted the future of the Jurassic franchise beautifully. The life like dinosaurs brought me back to when I use to want to be a velociraptor as a kid and I’m sure the new generation of children enjoyed the movie more then any of their parents could. Especially with Chris Pratt’s recent appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, I did hear a little girl say to her mom that Star Lord was going to ride a T-Rex.

I also noticed something small in the movie that apparently had an impact on the mental health community. Gray Mitchell throughout the film shows symptoms of autism yet the movie doesn’t officially announce that he has autism. In fact the developers stated they were going to make the character autistic but change their minds saying he would just be “odd”. Jurassic World did have an autistic audience and those who found out this information definitely felt the mental illness stigma. There is no reason why the movie couldn’t have raised awareness of those who are autistic and show how wonderful people with autism can be.

Though weaponized dinosaurs used for war seems outstretched, I believe the term Jurassic “World” is a foreshadowing of what is next to come in Jurassic World 2.

Daddy’s Home Movie Review (Released 2015)

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg team up together in chalk and cheese roles in Daddy’s Home directed by Sean Anders and co-executive produced by Adam McKay. The McKay-Ferrell combination has done wonders on-screen before and a movie like Anchorman is a delightful example of that. The difference here is McKay did not direct this feature and that seems to have made a lot of difference. Daddy’s Home is a raunchy comic movie in similar tones as of other Will Ferrell movies. It is scripted around two main characters who are the biological and step father of two adorable kids locked by the horns in a war to institute a parental supremacy. Will Ferrell plays the docile, nerdy, kind-hearted stepfather Brad, who is trying hard to gain the love and attention of the kids while they are obstructing his ventures. This gets complicated and way more difficult as the biological father Dusty, played by Mark Wahlberg enters the plot. Dusty is a complete contrast to the submissive nature of Brad and has a macho personality and a rough adventurous charisma about him, but evidently lacks fatherhood skills.

Linda Cardellini who plays Sarah, the mother of two gets completely side-lined by the two male characters trying to assert their macho credentials. She does not have much to do in the movie other than to be concerned about the continuous failures of her husband to establish a parental supremacy. The movie starts off to a very predictable plot and sports occasional crass gags to try to establish the comic reliefs. A dreaded formula which has been time and again portrayed is the basic storyline of the movie and is more or less an extensive sketch of a single idea which makes it dreary in parts.

Having said that, both Ferrell and Wahlberg are amazing in the movie and their comic timing is impeccable. The pair has previously teamed up in a similar movie by McKay called “The Other Guys” where they played similar roles of two cops who are poles apart by personality. Needless to say the odd mismatch of the pair adds to the great comedy.

Pros & Cons

The movie has a fair share of crass content and is mostly raunchy comedy with cynical gags and unprecedented chortles. But it shares a number of positive messages too. Sarah, the mother of two leaves her ex-husband Dusty owing to his lack of parenting skills and minimal devotion to his children’s needs. For marriage she chooses Brad who is a contrast in that spectrum and is well settled, kind and takes special efforts to involve himself in any and every way possible in the children’s lives. Towards the climax, Dusty seemingly gives in and understands how important gentleness and continuous patience and attention to detail are in raising up kids. He gets how Brad fits the description of a perfect father. On the hindsight, viewers need to sit through a whole deal of forced crass gags and implied crudity for an occasional glimpse of an earnest portrayal of what being a father is all about.

Not the most original movie, but Daddy’s Home is a fun watch and has great comic moments and subtle feel good factors. Despite failing to maintain the bar as compared to other movies of its league, Daddy’s Home movie review is incomplete without acknowledging the honest efforts of the whole team involved.

Black Mass Movie Review (Released 2015)

A well-chosen name can tell a lot about a film, think about- “The Godfather” and “Goodfellas”. It is through this duality that the narrative permeates through and tangles the viewers into a complex web. Black Mass, on the contrary, in its title draws a parallel between the conspiracy of the Mafia, the FBI and serving the devil. Thoughtful audiences immediately could understand what’s coming next.

Best part is you can grab this movie for free with this great Redbox coupon code site I found! Looks like they always have free or discounted movie rental codes for you so definitely grab a code and rent this movie from the box.

There are no limits when it comes to films like Black Mass. Although the narrative is based on a true story, it evokes the crimes committed by one of the leaders of the Irish mafia, and while it probably will fascinate lovers of court cases, the danger of the ‘saturation effect’ is pretty real.

The vision of Scott Cooper is pretty interesting. Black Mass is indeed devoid of the glamor effect. Without using such a raw and stripped approach that Matteo Garrone chose for Gomorrah, director of Crazy Heart chose to film this rather dry. Punctuated by extremely violent episodes, this drama camped in the criminal world does become more realistic. The filmmaker also relies heavily on the complexity of a story whose protagonists have always been known, even if they are not all passed on the same side of the law.

When the story begins in 1975, James J. “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp) is already a notorious criminal. John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), FBI agent manages to convince his childhood friend to work with the agency to eliminate their common enemy: the Italian Mafia. In exchange, the agency condones illegal activities of Whitey Bulger, including his involvement in drug trafficking. This strange alliance soon causes conflicts.

In addition, Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch), the younger brother of the criminal, makes a political career and wins the chairmanship of the Senate of the State of Massachusetts. The scenario is described skillfully and all the links that are generated by such dangerous situations are well portrayed.

The effectiveness of the film rests largely on the reliable shoulders of Johnny Depp. The actor finally provides a performance that is an accurate measure of his talent, in a role that is sure to freeze your blood. All fans would surely enjoy a particular scene in the movie, which we think is worthy of an inclusion in an anthology – he gets into a room at a dinner, just to intimidate the wife of one of his allies, while investigating his doubts of allegiance.

Unfortunately, the film is not of this caliber from end to end.

Black Mass might probably interest fans of gangster movies, but there is nothing distinctive enough to attract those who are less fond of this genre. While Depp is certainly great here, the villain of “Black Masses” would be a better fit in a bleak Komiksy film rather than in a realistic crime flick. This, however, does not contradict the main task of the movie, as it manages to portray Bulger in a scary manner, so much so that he winds up being down right ridiculous and a misfit.

Phish – American Rock & Roll Band

Phish is a rock and roll band from the United States that has been around for more than thirty years. The band is known for the great variety of music genres, awesome improvisation techniques and a huge base of fans that consider their passion for Phish a way of life. There was a pause in the activity of the 4 members in 2004, but they reunited later for more concerts.

Band Members

While the band concept was born in 1983, the band exists in its current format since 1985. These are the four members: Mike Gordons – vocals and bass, Trey Anastasio – lead vocals and guitars, Page McConnel – vocals and keyboards and John Fishman – vocals, vacuum, percussion and drums. In the 1983 formula, Jeff Holdsworth was a guitarist, but he was later replaced by Page McConnel.

Musical Style

Music genres like rock (mainly progressive and psychedelic), country, jazz, folk, pop, blues, bluegrass and funk were adopted by the band. However, instead of focusing more on traditional folk like other groups, Phish is more focused on improvising using jazz as a starting point. While there were many albums released by the band, its huge popularity was mostly given by its live performances. The music is very complex and varied, with a lot of improvisation that can be clearly noticed by listeners.

Phish Albums

The first album was recorded in 1988. Its name was “Junta” and was sold in the form of audio cassettes. The band released its second album in 1990, called “Lawn Boy”. At this time, the fan base was already large and the band was popular on the Internet as well. But, before these two albums were released, there were other experimental cassettes distributed under names like “The White Tape” (1983-1986) and “The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday” (1987-1989). In 1992, the third official album came out, called “A Picture of Nectar”. In the meantime, the first two albums were reissued.

The popularity of the band continues to grow and its songs start to be popular in charts as well. “Rift” is the fourth album, released in 1993 and then “Hoist” was the fifth, in 1994. In ’95, Phish made a double disk called “A Live One” and in ’96, the seventh album called “Billy Breathes” came out. The following albums came out like this: “Slip, Stitch & Pass” in ’97, “The Story Of The Ghost” in ’98, “Hampton Comes Alive” in 1999 and “Farmhouse” in 2000. After this last album, the members of the band decided that they need to take a break.

After the break, they released “Under Room” in 2002 and the thirteenth album called “Undermind” (2004), but the band broke up soon. In 2009, the members reunited for a fourteenth album called “Joy”. The newest album was released in 2014 and is called “Fuego”. Besides the albums, there were many other releases in the form of live representations, sets, documentaries and experimental films.

Most Popular Phish Songs

There were hundreds of good songs from this band over time and the list would be too long to write. These are the most important: “Stash”, “Ghost”, “Brian and Robert”, “Run Like An Antelope”, “The Lizards”, “Sample In A Jar”, “Time Turns Elastic”, “Reba”, “Maze”, ” Slave To The Traffic Light”, “You Enjoy Myself”, “Bathtub Gin”, “Rift”, “Fluffhead”. “Chalk Dust Torture”, “Julius”, “Farmhouse”, “First Tube” and many others. For example, “Time Turns Elastic” exists on the album “Joy” and was meant to be an orchestral piece originally. “Fluffhead” was made for the first album, “Junta” and is one of the favorite of most fans. “First Tube” is a trippy instrumental song.